Silencer
A silencer, also known as a suppressor, is an applicable barrel extension. The silencer is mainly used to reduce the amount of noise and flash generated by firing a weapon. Contrary to popular belief, a silencer doesn't make a gun silent. Instead, it reduces the noise emitted from the weapon, which can make normally distinct sounds unrecognizable. Silencers are important, usually for ambushes or any other stealthy attacking method. It also gives some weapons that are available to be silenced some advantages and disadvantages. In the Counter-Strike games, the usage of silencers were primarily exclusive to the CT team (although the Terrorists can purchase the USP in older games). The weapons that can be suppressed are the M4A1, M4A1-S, KM .45 Tactical, and the USP-S. The Schmidt Machine Pistol also has a fixed silencer, but it cannot be removed. Gameplay Advantages *Lower the weapon's noise; harder for enemies to detect your position. *The silencer itself is free (only the weapon itself costs money) *In Counter-Strike, it increases the M4A1's headshot damage by 3 points at point blank range and 1 for the other body part locations *In Global Offensive, the silencer is already attached for the USP-S and the M4A1-S. *Slightly increases accuracy in CS:GO. *In Counter-Strike: Source, the silencer removes the muzzle flash fired from a weapon. Disadvantages *Increases damage fall off for the M4A1 only in all games prior to CS:GO *Decreases the accuracy of a suppressed weapon in Counter-Strike **Increases recoil and spread of the USP in Counter-Strike *Attaching and detaching the silencer costs time **In CS:GO, silencers cost more time to attach and detach in comparison to previous games *Lowers overall damage for the USP in Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Source *Increases the length of your weapon, possibly making you easier to spot when hiding around corners Tactics Damage When using the silencer in Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Source, damage is greatly reduced for the USP and damage fall off increases for the M4A1 so be sure to only use it for close-ranged combat purposes or scoring headshots at longer ranges. ''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' The silencer no longer reduces damage at all compared to when it's unsilenced. Accuracy In Counter-Strike, for long ranges, the silencer should be removed due to its accuracy penalty but also remember the silencer does not affect the accuracy or recoil of the gun in Counter-Strike: Source. ''Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' Unlike in previous games, the silencer should be kept on because it greatly increases the accuracy and reduces the bullet spread of the USP-S and, notably, the M4A1-S. Removing the silencer will make these weapons less effective than their counterparts (the P2000 and the M4A4 respectively). The weapons with silencer have less ammo than their original counterparts, but because the stealth benefits, they are still fairly popular among players. Firing Rate Remember that the firing rate of silenced weapons is not altered in any way thus engaging users has the same level of danger even if they have removed the silencer(s). Effectiveness The advantages included are the higher damage at close range for the M4A1 in Counter-Strike and increased stealth abilities that can allow the user to remain hidden and become harder to be detected by enemies. This includes bots as they will have a harder time to locate you if your weapon is suppressed (but will not prevent them from retaliating). In some maps such as Office and Militia, enclosed areas provide silencer users excellent cover for breaching or for hiding. Note that the silencer reduces the noise, not removing it. Enemies close to you can still hear you, provided that there are no other noises. In Counter-Strike: Source, silencers remove muzzle flashes produced by weapons when firing, which allow users to have an easier time in remaining hidden by other enemies at darker areas. However, bots are not affected by darkness and they can still see enemies clearly even at areas devoid of light. Staying with allied players who do not have silenced weapons may cause the enemy team to detect your team members and yourself, even if you have a silenced weapon. If you suspect a large group of enemies nearby and are alert for you to enter, you can either throw flashbangs and smoke grenades and fire your silenced weapons. This is important because in CS 1.6, flashbangs will only affect the sight of players, not hearing thus silenced weapons will give players an edge to eliminate enemies before they realize they're being assaulted. Running, instead of walking will reduce the effectiveness of the silencer as enemies may hear you. Due to this, it is advisable to walk/crouch walk when entering territory in which enemies could be hiding or stalking for targets. ''Deleted Scenes'' The silencer is not effective in Deleted Scenes. Enemies can still detect you even if you fire the weapon with the silencer. However, some players will still attach the silencer to lower the weapon's recoil or simply for fun. When to attach/detach the Silencer Be sure to attach the silencer during freeze time or before you enter into combat since the attachment process takes time and leaves the player vulnerable to attack from enemies. Excluding CS:GO, it is worthy to note that silenced weapons do not provide enough advantages when you are in open-spaced areas, unless enemies have not detected you yet or you can score headshots. Unless you would like to remain stealthy, it may be best to remove the silencer unless you plan to get close to the opposing force. Note that it is highly advised to do this at freeze time in any Counter-Strike game due to its lengthy detach time. Gallery :Main Article: Silencer/Gallery Trivia *In the earlier Counter-Strike games, it is possible to attach and detach the silencer faster to the M4A1 and the KM .45 Tactical. This is done by quickly switching to another weapon and then back to the weapon with the silencer during the attachment/detachment process. If done quickly, the result is that the silencer is now attached or removed from the weapon. Sometimes though, there is a small delay before you can fire the weapon when this is performed. **However, this has been fixed in Counter-Strike: Source as you must fully complete the time taken to apply and remove the silencer. If another weapon is selected at any time during the animation, the silencer will not attach/detach and the process must be restarted. Although for example, if you try to attach a silencer at the end of the round and a new one starts before you could finish, the silencer will be already attached to your weapon. **There is a rare glitch in which picking up a silenced weapon (if the previous wielder was killed when trying to attach/detach the silencer) will cause the player to continuously attach and detach the silencer and the weapon will not fire. *Regardless if you attached the silencer or not, it will be always be seen at third person view in Counter-Strike and Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. This was fixed in Counter-Strike: Source. **There was no attach/detach animation in third-person until Counter-Strike: Global Offensive where it was fixed via patch. *The silencer is cosmetically different throughout the series. *The TMP is the only weapon that uses a fixed silencer. *The silencer on the kill icons in Counter-Strike 1.6 and in Condition Zero will always appear regardless if it was attached or not. However, in Counter-Strike: Source, this is the opposite as the silencer will never show up. *Bots in Source version will randomly attach the silencer if the weapon they use provides such option. **In Global Offensive, the silencer will appear in the HUD kill icon if it was used by an assailant. If the silencer was not used, it will not be seen in the icon. **The HUD icon of the TMP never shows its silencer. This is probably implemented to reduce the size of the icon. *Originally, silenced weapons were not available in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. However, due to overwhelming fan support, Valve has added the USP-S and the M4A1-S. Unlike in previous installments, these weapons have low ammunition reserve and takes longer time to attach and detach the silencer(and lower magazine capacity for the M4A1-S). External links *Silencer at Wikipedia Category:Gameplay Category:Equipment